Magnotta’s lawyer wants extra funds for psychological evaluation

Sue Montgomery, GAZETTE JUSTICE REPORTER07.17.2013

Luka Rocco Magnotta is shown in an artist’s sketch in a Montreal court on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Magnotta’s lawyer wants extra public funds in order to have his client undergo a pre-trial psychological evaluation.

MONTREAL — Luka Magnotta's lawyer wants extra public funds in order to have his client, who is charged with the first-degree murder of Lin Jun, undergo a pre-trial psychological evaluation.

Luc Leclair is being paid by legal aid to represent Magnotta, 30, but the lawyer said in Quebec Superior Court Friday that the state's cap of a $1,200-payment for an expert isn't sufficient. After some negotiations with legal aid, Leclair said the amount was increased to $1,500, then, "exceptionally", to $2,000, and finally to $3,000.

He said he wants a third expert, but it's challenging to find an expert who is both competent in English and will accept the fees offered by legal aid.

"Some can't write a report in English and some can't speak English well enough to speak to my client," he said, adding that the job of evaluating an accused and writing a report involves a minimum of 60 hours of work.

Magnotta, an Ontario native, is charged with first-degree murder, producing and distributing obscene material, causing an indignity to a body, sending obscene material through the mail system, and harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other MPs. He was arrested last June in Berlin after the May 25 murder of Lin Jun, a 33-year-old Chinese national studying at Concordia University.

Leclair tried Friday to have a publication ban placed on details of his motion requesting a temporary stay of proceedings in the case until funds could be secured. The motion won't be heard in Quebec Superior Court until after the preliminary hearing, which is to wrap up the week of April 8.

Leclair claimed that information in the motion could harm Magnotta's right to a fair trial by revealing that the defence might be that Magnotta is not criminally responsible for reasons of a mental disorder, the same defence used by Guy Turcotte, the former cardiologist who killed his two young children. The judge rejected Leclair's claim.

"Any capable defence lawyer would have his client examined," Stober said. "The defence won't necessarily be (not criminally responsible), that's just a defence lawyer doing his homework and examining every possible avenue of defence."

As for Leclair's concern that it will be difficult to find 12 impartial jurors, Stober said there are techniques to screen potential jurors to see if they are biased. And a trial, if called, won't be heard until January 2014 at the earliest, by which time many people will have forgotten details of the case.

He ruled that the public has the right to know if its tax money is being spent on experts for the defence and denied Leclair's request for a publication ban.

"The courts are public and your application is in respect to public money, public funds," the judge told Leclair.

Magnotta's preliminary hearing, which began March 17 and is now adjourned until April 8, is a procedure in which all the evidence is being presented before Quebec Court Judge Lori-Renée Weitzman, who will then decide if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial.

Julien Bernard, a lawyer from the Quebec Attorney General's office, said the department is not negotiating with Leclair yet, but rather collecting information on the file. But there is a chance that an agreement could be reached outside of court before the motion is heard, he said.

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